Lydia Stevens, former state representative from Greenwich, dies at 95.

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Lydia Stevens, whose two terms in the state House of Representatives only scratch the surface of a decades-long career of service, to Connecticut and particularly to the town of Greenwich, died this week at her home in Guilford.

The cause was pneumonia, according to her family. She was 95.

Though Stevens left Greenwich more than a decade ago for her home farther up the Connecticut coast, her mark on this town remains indelible.

"As a woman, she was ahead of her time in a community where it wasn't common or even acceptable for women to have jobs of leadership," said Linda Newsom, a former parishioner at Christ Church, where Stevens was the first female senior warden. "She was a natural."

First Selectman Peter Tesei on Friday lauded Stevens' many years of service, which touched on so many spheres of public life -- ecological, political, spiritual and social.

"She cared deeply about helping those less fortunate and was a voice of reason and common sense," Tesei said. "My sympathy to her family on her passing. She lived a life in service to our community and we are better off today because of it."